DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): NOT-OD-09-058: NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act funds for Competitive Revision Application Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), occurs in over 42,000 men and women annually in the United States, resulting in over 13,000 deaths per year. The parent grant has initiated a comprehensive investigation of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Part of the grant has generated an ongoing program with traditional molecular epidemiologic components that is also utilizing emerging molecular pathology techniques to develop a multilevel framework for investigating the etiology, susceptibility, and clinical course of HNSCC. This competitive application seeks to integrate multiple variables that capture social factors into the comprehensive framework that we have developed, now studying the modification of disease risk by these variables. We have successfully identified and approached incident HNSCC cases that occurred in the metropolitan Boston area over the continuing grant period and successfully recruited eligible population-based controls, obtaining biologic specimens from essentially all enrolled participants. We have completed over 10,000 genotypes from DNA extracted from participants and obtained multiple biological samples for future studies. This application focuses upon the integration of variables measuring neighborhood socioeconomic status and/or neighborhood deprivation and also proposes to add investigation of the genetics of addictive behavior and diet as additional potential modifiers of disease risk. This will facilitate applying social factor data and genotype characterization in a novel, powerful analytic approach to study the genesis of HNSCC. This renewal will allow for the appropriate, powerful analysis of social factors in the setting of a multilevel research framework where data can be shared and integrated across scientific investigations. It is being conducted by an outstanding existing team currently in the field. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This supplement study seeks to add an analysis of variables known to describe social factors to the parent grant that is funded to assess the association of normal genetic variants with susceptibility to head and neck cancer. This supplemental application will integrate the analysis of social factors into a large body of data that attempts to characterize risk factors in HNSCC.